Happy 100th Birthday Ella Fitzgerald!

Happy 100th Birthday Ella Fitzgerald!
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By William P. Gottlieb

Ella Jane Fitzgerald sunrise 4/25/17 Newport News, VA, sunset 6/15/96, Beverly Hills, CA.

In her youth she was a lookout for a bordello and for a Mafioso numbers runner.

She made her debut at amateur night at the Apollo Theater.

Summertime with Louis Armstrong was a big hit.

She received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from George H.W. Bush in 1992.

She was known as “First Lady of Song”, “Queen of Jazz” and “Lady Ella”.

One of her biggest hits was a nursery rhyme, A Tisket, A Tasket.

Marilyn Monroe lobbied the owner of the Mocambo Nightclub in Hollywood for her to perform there in 1955. She was among the first black performers to do so.

Peace, love, joy, faith, gratitude, courage, compassion and blessings.

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